Remote live game

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for enabling a player Io participate in a live online card game. After a card is drawn, and before all players can see it, it is optionally squeezed, i.e. slowly revealed to one or more players, such as the players who placed the highest bet for a particular side. The gradual revealing of the cards is performed by capturing and broadcasting a representative of the particular side showing the cards to a capturing device, by broadcasting pre-recorded image streams, or by broadcasting an image stream generated by a computing platform after a card was scanned by a scanning device. The player can choose the part of the card being revealed, and its orientation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a live computer game in general, and toVIP baccarat game in particular.

2. Discussion of the Related Art

Baccarat is a live table card game played in casinos or gamingestablishments. The object of the game of baccarat is for a player tosuccessfully wager on whether the “banker” hand, the “player” hand isgoing to win, or there will be a tie. In order for a hand to win, thehand count, i.e. the sum of the cards in the hand, should be closer tothe target count of nine (9) than the other hand. If the hand valueexceeds ten, the hand value is determined to be the digit value of theraw hand value. For example, if the raw hand value is 15, the hand valueis determined to be 5. The bettor wins even money if he selects thewinning hand; wins nine times the wager if he selects tie which indeedoccurs; gets his money back if he bet on banker or on player and theresult is a tie (a “push” situation); and loses the wager if he bet ontie and the result is player or banker, or if he bet on player or onbanker and the other one was closer to nine. Due to the rules ofbaccarat, and particularly the pre-established card drawing rules, the“banker” hand has slightly higher chances of winning than does the“player” hand. Therefore, if the bettor wagers on the “banker” hand andthe “banker” hand wins, the bettor must pay to the gaming establishmenta commission, typically about 5% of the amount the bettor wins. Nocommission is paid if the bettor successfully wagers on the “player”hand.

The manner of play of baccarat is as follows: a multiple number of decksof standard playing cards, 52 in number, are used, typically eight decksare shuffled together and placed in a shoe box from which the cards aredealt during the play of the game. Each player makes a wager on whetherthe “banker” hand will win, the “player” hand will win, or a tie willoccur. Once all wagers are made, two cards are dealt from the shoe boxto the “player” hand and two cards are dealt to the “banker” hand inalternate fashion. The cards are turned face-up, the values of the“player” hand and the “banker” hand are summed, and the unit digit isdetermined to be the hand value. Aces count as one, faces and tens countas zero and the other cards count their respective value. For example, aseven, an eight and a queen total fifteen, so the hand value isdetermined to be five.

The highest hand value in baccarat is nine, and all hand values rangefrom zero to nine. If a set of predetermined “player” criteria are met,a third card will be dealt to the player, and similarly for the“banker”, although the criteria are not identical for the “player” andfor the “banker”. The value of this third card is added to the total ofthe first two cards and a new hand value is established. Again, if thenew hand total exceeds nine, the hand value is determined by subtractingten from the total hand. The rules for determining whether a third cardis dealt are fixed, there is no discretion for either the “player” handor the “banker” hand on whether a third card is dealt. Prior to drawing,each player can place their wagers on “player”, “banker”, or tie.Whichever of the player hand or banker hand is nearest to nine is thewinner, and if the hands are equal, it is a tie.

Live Baccarat is offered to players who wish to feel the thrill andexcitement of a live game, although they are not personally present in agaming room.

An online live game comprises a real gaming facility such as a casino ora gaming room, wherein the game is played by a manager, such as a humandealer, and captured by a capturing device such as a video camera.Multiple online players, each using a computer view the online game viaa display device such as a monitor of the computer displaying thecaptured game, and participate in the game by using input devices suchas a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen or another pointing device ormechanism. However, even when a player views and participates in anonline game, the thrill and excitement of personally participating in abaccarat game in a real gaming room is still missing. Also missing is away for the gaming room operator to reward or encourage a certainplayer.

There is therefore a need in the art for a method and apparatus thatwill provide an online Baccarat player participating in a remote gamewith enhanced excitement and added benefits, in order to make him feelas if he was personally present in a gaming room.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel method andapparatus for providing the thrill and excitement of a real gaming roomto online players. Some of the thrill is provided by letting thehighest-betting players to get a preview of a drawn card, before theother players get a chance to view the card.

In accordance with the disclosed invention there is thus provided anapparatus for participating from a remote location in a card game, theapparatus comprising: a gaming facility connected to a network, thegaming facility comprising: a game manager for drawing one or more cardsaccording to a predetermined rule associated with the card game and oneor more capturing devices for capturing an image stream of the gamemanager; and a server connected to the network for broadcasting theimage stream of the game manager, and an image stream showing the carddrawn by the game manager being gradually revealed; and a computingplatform, the computing platform connected to the network, the computingplatform provisioned with a display, the display showing to a player atleast: the image stream of the game manager; and the image stream of thecard being gradually revealed. The card game is optionally a Baccaratgame. Within the apparatus, the first capturing device optionallygenerates an image stream of a person gradually revealing the card. Thegaming facility optionally comprises a second capturing device forgenerating an image stream of a person gradually revealing the card.Within the apparatus, the first capturing device optionally generates animage stream of a card being gradually revealed. The gaming facilityoptionally comprises a second capturing device for generating an imagestream of a card being gradually revealed. The gaming facilityoptionally comprises a second capturing device for generating a firstimage stream showing a first person gradually revealing an at least onefirst card, and a second image stream showing a second person graduallyrevealing an at least one second card. Within the apparatus, the imagestream showing the card drawn by the game manager being graduallyrevealed is optionally pre recorded or graphically generated. Theapparatus optionally comprises one or more controls for the player toshow at least a predetermined part of the card being gradually revealed.The image stream showing the card drawn by the game manager beinggradually revealed is optionally shown during a predetermined duration.The display optionally provides the player with one or more controls forproviding one or more instructions related to gradually revealing thecard. The instruction is optionally selected from the group consistingof: reveal about a half of the card, reveal about a third of the card,rotate the card in about ninety degrees, or toss the card.

Another aspect of the disclosed invention relates to a method forplaying an online card game from a remote location in, the methodcomprising: a drawing step for drawing one or more cards from a deck ofcards; a displaying step for displaying to a first player using a firstcomputing platform, an image stream showing a part of the card beinggradually revealed; and a tossing step for showing the card to a secondplayer. The method can further comprise a squeezing step for: graduallyrevealing the card to a capturing device; and generating the imagestream of the card being gradually revealed. Within the method,gradually revealing the card to the capturing device is performed by aperson. Within the method, generating the image stream of the card beinggradually revealed is optionally performed by a video camera, or by ascanner and a computing platform. The method optionally comprises apreparation step for preparing an image stream of a card being graduallyrevealed. The method can further comprise a step of sending the imagestream showing the card being gradually revealed, to a second computingplatform. Within the method, the first player optionally providesinstructions on how the card should be gradually revealed. Theinstructions optionally include an indication to the part or theorientation of the card being gradually revealed. The method, whereinthe first player placed a bet higher then a bet placed by a secondplayer, or higher than a predetermined threshold.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Non-limiting embodiments of the invention will be described withreference to the following description of exemplary embodiments, inconjunction with the figures. The figures are generally not shown toscale and any sizes are only meant to be exemplary and not necessarilylimiting. In the figures, identical structures, elements or parts thatappear in more than one figure are preferably labeled with a same orsimilar number in all the figures in which they appear, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a gaming facility, in accordancewith a preferred embodiment of the disclosed invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a screen of an online remote player, inaccordance with the preferred embodiment of the disclosed invention; and

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the main steps of the method of the disclosedinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art byproviding a novel solution which enhances and adds to the capabilitiesof currently available live baccarat games offered to peopleparticipating online in a game from a remote location.

In the description that follows, the term player relates to a personparticipating in the game, optionally from a remote location. The term“player” relates to a side in the game of Baccarat, as opposed to“banker”.

In a preferred embodiment of the disclosed invention, a baccarat game istaking place in a gaming facility such as a casino, a gaming room or anyother location. A game manager, such as dealer plays the game, bydrawing cards according to the rules of the game. The game is capturedby a capturing device such as a video camera which generates an imagestream of the game manager and the game table. The image stream is sentfrom the capturing device to a server, and then broadcast by the serverto one or more remote online players. The capturing device or acomputing platform the capturing device is connected to, the server andthe remote players are connected by a network, such as the internet. Theremote players preferably use a computing platform provisioned with adisplay, such as a computer, a handheld device or the like. Each playerviews the online game, possibly hears voices captured in the gamingroom, and actively participates in the game or places his bets through auser interface by using input devices such as keyboard, mouse or thelike. The player's input is sent to the server and possibly to thegaming facility. A remote online gaming environment is described in U.S.Pat. No. 5,800,268 granted to Molnick, incorporated herein by reference.

In Baccarat games played in gaming rooms, it is customary to let theplayer who bet the highest sum on the “banker” or the player who bet thehighest sum on the “player”, an option to view their respective cardsbefore the other players get to see them. When the option is available,the dealer, a dedicated representative, or two dedicatedrepresentatives, one for the “banker” and one for the “player” graduallyreveal the dealt card and slowly show its face to the relevant player,i.e. the player who bet the highest sum for that party. The graduallyrevealing may be called “squeezing” the card. The full card, half of thecard, a third of the card or any other part can be shown to the player.The player can choose whether the card will be squeezed along its wideor along its narrow side. In a preferred embodiment, while squeezingtakes place, the corners of the card are hidden by the representative'sthumbs, so that the card numeric value is not seen.

In order for an online player to feel the thrill of being physicallypresent in a gaming room, the squeezing option is also enabled to remoteonline players participating in the game. Similarly to a real game, theoption is enabled to the players who placed the highest bet on the“banker” or on the “player” side. In a preferred embodiment, the gamingroom or the site at which the game takes place, has two representatives,one for the “banker” and one for the “player”, which squeeze the cardsand show them to a capturing device. The captured stream is preferablyshown only to the highest betting players of the relevant party. In apreferred embodiment the player is limited in the time the overallsqueezing time for a particular card, after which the card is tossed.Preferably, the player is also limited in the time each squeezing takes,after which the user can issue another squeezing command if the overallsqueezing time is not finished, or the card is tossed.

Referring now to FIG. 1, showing a preferred embodiment of the disclosedinvention. FIG. 1 shows the environment in which the actual live gametakes place, generally referenced 100. Dealer 104 draws from a deck ofcards or multiple decks 120 two cards 124 for the “player” and two cards128 for the “banker”. If a set of “player” criteria are met, the dealerdraws a third card for the “player”. If a set of “banker” criteria ismet, the dealer draws a third card for the “banker”. Dealer 104 passeseach drawn card through scanner 112, which identifies the scanned card,i.e. determines its number and type. Bets placed by the players areindicated by coins placed on “player” area 132, on “banker” area 136, oron “tie” area 138. Dealer 104 communicates with the players through acomputing platform (not shown) having input devices such as a keyboard,a mouse or another pointing device (not shown), and optionally receivesindications from the remote players on display 108. The scene iscaptured by capturing device 116, such as a video camera, an IP cameraor any other capturing device connected to a network, so that itscaptured stream can be broadcast. Capturing device 116 optionallycaptures also the voices at environment 100. In a preferred embodimentof the disclosed invention, representative 150 is the “player”representative, who squeezes the cards for the player that placed thehighest bet on the “player”, and representative 160 is the “banker”representative, which squeezes the cards for the player that placed thehighest bet on the “banker”. When a card is to be squeezed for theplayer who placed the highest bet on “player”, “player” representative150 squeezes card 154 which was drawn by dealer 104 by showing the cardas it is being squeezed to capturing device 158, which is preferably avideo camera, an IP camera or another capturing device connected to anetwork. Similarly “banker” representative 160 squeezes card 164 andshows it to capturing device 168 when the card is to be shown to theplayer that placed the highest bet on the “banker”. The video stream ofthe squeezed card is broadcast only to the player who placed the highestbet on the respective side, unlike the stream captured by capturingdevice 116 which is transmitted to all players. In yet anotheralternative, the squeezing option is enabled also for other players,such as players who placed a bet higher than a predetermined threshold,or players that agree to pay an extra fee. It will be appreciated thatsince the cards are drawn one at a time, capturing device 158 andcapturing device 168 can be the same capturing device. Similarly,“player” representative 150 and “banker” representative 160 can be thesame person. Alternatively, “player” representative 150 or “banker”representative 160 can be the game manager.

Referring now to FIG. 2, showing the screen of a remote playerparticipating in a Baccarat game. The screen, generally referenced 200comprises a game display pane 208, a communication pane 212, and a gamepane 216. The flow of the game is displayed on game pane 216, showing“player” cards 220 when drawn, “banker” cards 224 when drawn, theplayers' bets placed on the “banker” 228, the players' bets placed onthe “player” 232, the players' bets placed on tie area 236, andactivation buttons, including bet buttons 236. Game display pane 208shows the stream captured by capturing device 116 of FIG. 1, andcommunication pane 212 enables the player to with dealer 104 of FIG. 1.In addition, the players who placed the highest bets on the “player” oron the “banker” are displayed with an exclusive close-up video feed ofthe respective card being squeezed in squeezing display pane 204, and aset of squeezing controls 238, 240, 242 and 244. Squeezing display pane204 shows to the player who placed the highest bet on the “player” or onthe “banker”, the squeezing of each card of the party he placed his beton, as captured by capturing device 158 or 168 of FIG. 1, respectively.Display pane 204 can show just the card being squeezed, or therepresentative squeezing the card together with the card itself. Theremote player can use action controls 238, 240, 242 and 244, such asbuttons, touch sensitive screen areas or the like to indicate theactions related to squeezing the cards, required from representative 150or 160. Alternatively, the indications can be extracted by speechrecognition or word spotting techniques from words or fluent speechspoken by the player, and transmitted to the representative. In yetanother alternative, the player's voice will be transferred over IP(VoIP), a regular telephone, cellular telephone or the like to therepresentative. If the user clicks or otherwise indicates full squeezebutton 238, or an associated command, the representative will squeezethe card until half of the card is shown. If the player indicates halfsqueeze button 240 or associated command, the representative willsqueeze the card until a third of the card is shown; if the userindicates on rotate button 242 or associated command the representativewill rotate the card in about ninety degrees from its currentorientation; and when the user indicates toss button 244 or associatedcommand, the representative will open the card so that all players cansee it and it is tossed to the dealer face-up. The orientation (i.e.horizontal or vertical) in which the card is squeezed depends on itsinitial drawing orientation, and on whether the highest betting playerclicked on rotate button 242. Window 204 and controls 238, 240, 242 and244 are optionally presented automatically to a player who placed thehighest bet on either side. Additionally toss automatically checkbox 245enables a player to skip the squeezing although he or she placed thehighest bet on a certain party. Window 204 and controls 238, 240, 242and 244 are shown only if checkbox 245 is not checked. In yet anotheralternative, the option is enabled also for other players, such asplayers who placed a bet higher than a predetermined threshold, orplayers that agree to pay an extra fee. The player having the privilegeof seeing the squeezed cards has an additional display of a singleaction timer 248 and overall timer 252. When squeezing is enabled for aparticular player, when the player presses any of buttons 238, 240, 242or 244, an appropriate indication is sent to the gaming room, therepresentative see the indication on display 108 of FIG. 1, areinstructed by the game manager, or see the indication on a separatedisplay and act accordingly. Alternatively, if the squeezing streamshown to the players is pre recorded, a relevant stream is selected, forexample a stream showing half or full exposure of the card, a card beingsqueezed horizontally or vertically, or the like. The squeezing occursaccording to the option selected using buttons 238, 240, 242 or 244until the player asks to toss the card, or until a time limitation ismet, and the card is tossed. Single action timer 248 is preferablyrestarted every time the player indicates a command such as by clickingon button 238, 240, 242 or 244, and counts down from a predeterminedduration, such as between about 2 seconds and about 120 seconds. Overalltimer is 252 preferably restarted and starts counting down whenever theplayer who can squeeze is dealt a new card that can be squeezed (thisoption is traditionally available only for the second or the thirdplayer or banker cards, although it can also be enabled for the firstcards as well). If either single action timer 248 or overall timer 252counted down to zero, the card is tossed. Until then, the player canchoose options such as by clicking buttons 238, 240, 242 or 244. Ifoverall timer 252 counted down to zero, the card is tossed and no moresqueezing is enabled for the current card, while if single action timer248 counted down to zero the player must click or indicate anothercommand button, otherwise the card is tossed.

In an alternative embodiment, when representatives are not present onthe gaming site, the cards are shown to the highest betting players by acomputerized mechanism. For example, the step at which the dealer passesa card through a scanner in order to later present the card or acomputerized version thereof to all players can be used. The passing ofthe card or a part thereof in the scanner can be captured and presentedin the required pace to a user. Alternatively, once a card is determinedafter it was scanned by a scanner, a pre-captured image stream showingthe squeezing of the same card is presented to the user. Alternatively,a graphically generated, such as a computer-generated stream showing thecard being squeezed, rather than a capturing of a human squeezing a cardis presented to the player. In yet another preferred embodiment thestream is sent to another destination, such as a handheld deviceassociated with the player, an e-mail address or the like.

Referring now to FIG. 3, showing a flowchart of the main steps in amethod for online Baccarat in accordance with the disclosed invention.At optional step 304, streams describing half or third exposure of eachcard are prepared. The streams can be prepared by capturing a personsqueezing the cards, or by preparing a computerized illustration of thecards being squeezed. Step 304 is optional and can be skipped, if thesqueezed cards are captured in real time or near real time as detailedbelow. At step 308 one or more players login to the system in order toplay one or more rounds of Baccarat. At step 312 one or more of theplayers that logged into the game place their bets, on the “player”side, on the “banker” side, or on tie. At drawing step 316 the dealerdraws a card for the “player” side, from a deck of cards. At optionalsqueezing step 320 the “player” representative squeezes the card, i.e.gradually reveals the card or a part thereof according to the player'schoices as selected using buttons 238, 240, 242, 244 or 245 of FIG. 2.The representative gradually reveals the card to a capturing device,which outputs the image stream to be shown to the player that placed thehighest bet, or met other criteria. Alternatively, the image stream isgenerated by the card being shown to a device such as a scanner whichscans the card, and a computing platform such as a computer thatgenerates an image stream of the card being gradually revealed. Step 320is optional since it can be omitted if the streams were prepared at step304 detailed above. At display step 324 the squeezed “player” card isdisplayed to the player that placed the highest bet on the “player”side. If step 320 is performed, the squeezed card is preferably shown tothe user in real-time or near-real time relatively to step 320. Thesqueezed card is optionally sent to a second computing device, such as ahandheld device of the user or the like. At step 326 the “player” cardis tossed on the table, so all players can see it. The sequence repeatsin step 328, 332, 336 and 340 for the “banker” side. Steps 316, 320,324, 326, 328, 332, 336 and 340 are preferably performed for the secondcard drawn for the “player” and for the “banker”, and not for the firstcard. If a third card is drawn for the “player”, steps 316, 320, 324 and326 are repeated, and if a third card is drawn for the “banker”, steps328, 332, 336 and 340 are repeated. The steps can be performed also forthe first card, if the operator wishes to enable this option. At step344 the round ends, the players' and the house's accounts are debited orcredited, and a new round possibly begins at step 312.

It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the disclosedgaming scene and the disclosed user interface are exemplary only, andthat different settings or different user interfaces can be used withoutdeparting from the spirit of the current invention. It will also beappreciated that the disclosed invention can be used for any card gamein which gradually revealing is desired by one or more players, and isnot limited to a Baccarat game.

The present invention has been described using non-limiting detaileddescriptions of embodiments thereof that are provided by way of exampleand are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. It should beunderstood that features described with respect to one embodiment may beused with other embodiments and that not all embodiments of theinvention have all of the features shown in a particular figure ordescribed with respect to one of the embodiments. It is noted that someof the above described embodiments may describe the best modecontemplated by the inventors and therefore include structure, acts ordetails of structures and acts that may not be essential to theinvention and which are described as examples.

The present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shownand described hereinabove. Structure and acts described herein arereplaceable by equivalents, which perform the same function, even if thestructure or acts are different, as known in the art. The scope of thepresent invention is defined only by the claims which follow. When usedin the following claims, the terms “comprise”, “include”, “have” andtheir conjugates mean “including but not limited to”.

1. An apparatus for participating from a remote location in a card game,the apparatus comprising: a gaming facility connected to a network, thegaming facility comprising: a game manager for drawing an at least onecard according to a predetermined rule associated with the card game;and an at least one capturing device for capturing an image stream ofthe game manager; an at least one server connected to the network forbroadcasting the image stream of the game manager, and an image streamshowing the at least one card drawn by the game manager being graduallyrevealed; and an at least one computing platform, the computing platformconnected to the network, the computing platform provisioned with adisplay, the display showing to a player at least: the image stream ofthe game manager; and the image stream of the at least one card beinggradually revealed.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the card game isa Baccarat game.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least onefirst capturing device generates an image stream of an at least oneperson gradually revealing the at least one card.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein the gaming facility further comprises an at least onesecond capturing device for generating an image stream of an at leastone person gradually revealing the at least one card.
 5. The apparatusof claim 1 wherein the at least one first capturing device generates animage stream of an at least one card being gradually revealed.
 6. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the gaming facility further comprises an atleast one second capturing device for generating an image stream of anat least one card being gradually revealed.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1wherein the gaming facility further comprises an at least one secondcapturing device for generating a first image stream showing a firstperson gradually revealing an at least one first card, and a secondimage stream showing a second person gradually revealing an at least onesecond card.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the image streamshowing the at least one card drawn by the game manager being graduallyrevealed is pre recorded.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the imagestream showing the at least one card drawn by the game manager beinggradually revealed is graphically generated.
 10. The apparatus of claim1 wherein the display comprises an at least one control for the playerto show at least a predetermined part of the at least one card beinggradually revealed.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the imagestream showing the at least one card drawn by the game manager beinggradually revealed is shown during a predetermined duration.
 12. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the display provides the player with an atleast one control for providing an at least one instruction related togradually revealing the at least one card.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12wherein the at least one instruction is selected from the groupconsisting of: reveal about a half of the at least one card, revealabout a third of the at least one card, rotate the at least one card inabout ninety degrees, or toss the at least one card.
 14. A method forplaying an online card game from a remote location in, the methodcomprising: a drawing step for drawing an at least one card from a deckof cards; a displaying step for displaying to an at least one firstplayer using a first computing platform, an image stream showing a partof the at least one card being gradually revealed; and a tossing stepfor showing the at least one card to an at least one second player. 15.The method of claim 14 further comprising a squeezing step for:gradually revealing the at least one card to an at least one capturingdevice; and generating the image stream of the at least one card beinggradually revealed.
 16. The method of claim 15 wherein graduallyrevealing the at least one card to the capturing device is performed bya person.
 17. The method of claim 15 wherein generating the image streamof the at least one card being gradually revealed is performed by avideo camera.
 18. The method of claim 15 wherein generating the imagestream of the at least one card being gradually revealed is performed bya scanner and a computing platform.
 19. The method of claim 14 furthercomprising a preparation step for preparing an at least one image streamof an at least one card being gradually revealed.
 20. The method ofclaim 14 further comprising a step of sending the image stream showingthe at least one card being gradually revealed, to a second computingplatform.
 21. The method of claim 14 wherein the at least one firstplayer provides instructions on how the at least one card should begradually revealed.
 22. The method of claim 21 wherein the instructionsinclude an indication to the part of the at least one card beinggradually revealed.
 23. The method of claim 21 wherein the instructionsinclude an indication to the orientation of the at least one card beinggradually revealed.
 24. The method of claim 14 wherein the at least onefirst player placed a bet higher than a bet placed by an at least onesecond player.
 25. The method of claim 14 wherein the at least one firstplayer placed a bet higher than a predetermined threshold.